Welcome to the Dorman High School Media Center Blog. The information provided on this blog is intended for Dorman High School students. We hope the information is helpful and relevant. Please feel free to contact us if you have questions.

Saturday, December 21, 2013

So the movie comes out June 6, and there are some stinkers fussing over the tagline. They obviously don't get John Green, Hazel, or Augustus. Grrr, just as I have to say (or think really loudly anyway) when censorship raises its ugly head about YA lit, just read the book. Please!? Then the tagline will fit perfectly. Sigh.

TheOxford Dictionary of Englishproclaimed "selfie" as the word of the year for 2013. DHS is celebrating this with a display of "selfies" contributed by students. We are affectionately calling them "shelfies" since we are asking our students to take selfies in the stacks!!

Monday, December 16, 2013

We have chosen our book for the first semester book club that meets at lunch! We will be reading Butter by Erin Jade Lange. No date has been set yet for our first meeting, but when we know what that date i, we will let all know.

Here is a little teaser book trailer to get you interested in our book club book, Butter.

Saturday, December 14, 2013

The first semester book clubs have come to an end, and an average of 50 students participated across the semester, divided onto three groups that matched lunches. Our last book club, held Thursday, December 7, offered prizes to be won during each book club lunch. Each group had an activity centered on their lunch club title, and winners took away a $10 gift card to Barnes & Noble, while consolation prizes included Hershey Bars (2 each lunch) and Smarties (left over game pieces).

1st Lunch played a Marie Lu's Legendbingo game, and James Miller won the gift card!

2nd Lunch held a twitter like contest where students were challenged to come up with a six word summary of John Green's book The Fault in Our Stars. Tyrica Brown won the gift card for her creative tweet "Never regret living your life today.

3rd Lunch played a Veronica Roth's Divergent bingo game, and Kayleigh Southers won the gift card!

We have begun the process of choosing our first titles for second semester. Mrs. Nelson is going to pitch the Butter by Erin Jade Lange. Here is a book trailer about the book. Ms. Hammett and Mrs. Dillard have not yet decided on a title.

Friday, December 13, 2013

Today marked a unique day for us in the Dorman High School Library. It was Friday the 13th, a traditionally frowned upon date. Factor in also the library being closed due to "End of Course" Testing, and we have some pretty unhappy library regulars. To turn frowns upside down, we decided to market this special day as a surprise fine forgiveness day. We thought about our making the announcement via our Library Twitter account since we were closed, but we knew not too many of our students were following it. So Mrs. Dillard, one of the DHS librarians, hatched a plan. She sent the following message out in an email to our teachers, requesting they share the fine forgiveness day as well as how we would be rounding up books that needed to be returned each block. It went like this, though it's been edited for brevity:

Students who have fines but do not have books to return can TWEET to the library to have their fines waived/forgiven. The Twitter handle for the DHS Library is @CavaliersRead. If students do not have a Twitter account, they can stop outside the library doors (on the cafeteria side) and write their name on a Fine Forgiveness paper.

The response was overwhelmingly positive! We also prvided a way for students who do not use Twitter to get in on the deal, and we sent a student library worker around each block to collect books for teachers who responded indicating the need. We had many books picked up each block by our library workers, and we gained some new followers to out Library Twitter account, @CavaliersRead!

Monday, December 9, 2013

During the last few weeks, Mrs. Mayes fourth block English 10CP class has been reading books in order to create a video book trailer or poster. Here are some of the posters completed so far. Students were required to complete citations for all images, songs, and their book for the project, and these are on file in the media center.

During the last few weeks, Mrs. Mayes fourth block English 10CP class has been reading books in order to create a video book trailer or poster. Here are some of the videos completed so far. Students were required to complete citations for all images, songs, and their book for the project, and these are on file in the media center.

Sunday, December 1, 2013

We're excited to announce #Pulseit's#31daysofreading! Starting at midnight on December 1 & for the rest of the month of December, Pulseit.com will feature a different book each day as a FREE read for 24 hours! Plus, you can enter to win a copy of the book of the day by liking the #31daysofreading book of the day post on our SimonTEEN Facebook page!You can see the schedule for all #31days here:http://bit.ly/pulseit31daysAnd don't forget to tune in each day to Facebook to enter! For giveaway rules, see:http://bit.ly/teenfbrules

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

As I roamed the hall upstairs yesterday, I noticed outside Mr. Tedder's class a GREAT display of the Periodic Table of Elements. I stopped to take few photos, because over the last nineweeks or so I've actually given advice to students creating these cubes.

I showed several how to "score" their card stock to make folding the edges easier. I was aware of the project, but hadn't seen the outcome yet. What a pleasant surprise. I love that Mr. Tedder thinks "outside the box!!" Hats off to a fun, interesting, and informative project. I gather groups are only making the elements as they come across them in classes.

Monday, October 21, 2013

As part of our TRW activities we pushed for students to vote from the YALSA Top Ten Nominees (25 in all) the Top Ten which has been open for voting for a while now. The voting closed Saturday, and the winners were announced today!!

Just in case you cannot see the video, here is the list:

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielson
Insurgent by Veronica Roth
Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry
Poison Princess by Kresley Cole
The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
Crewel by Gennifer Albin
Every Day by David Levithan

Kill Me Softly by Sarah Cross

Butter by Erin Jade Lange

Great news!! Dorman has on the shelves available to students nine of these titles! We will add the missing title, The Poison Princess, to our next book order.

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Just wanted to say thanks DHS teens for helping us celebrate Teen Read Week at Dorman. It was fun, memorable, and best of all, a great way to get to know each other! Some highlights and winners:

There daily trivia winners---too many to name! Some of these students even won Barnes & Noble giftcards! There were three in the trivia. Other scratch-off tickets garnered students pens, pencils, free books, school supplies of an assorted nature, and more. Our students were very excited to try the trivia (based on library orientation, class research, and frequently asked questions about the library.) They could not ask library staff, but could rely on signs, displays, and each other to get answers and a chance at a scratch-off ticket.

We had 12 students opt in for "Bookmark Yourself," and I must say their personalized bookmarks looked great!

We had 97 entries in the "If YA Book Characters used Twitter" and each student who entered scored a scratch off trivia card. Brittany W. won the Barnes & Noble Gift card from the Twitter contest drawing.

Our SCPL Westside branch sent two teen librarian assistants out to help promote TRw activities form the public library Thursday.

We had 20 of our 24 students invited to make it into the Donut Drop-in. These students have this year checked out the most books, and have absolutely no over dues or fines. Each one came for donuts, juice, milk, or water, and a FREE book.

Definitely looking forward to next year's Teen Read Week. Enjoya few pictured moments form thsi years TRW at Dorman.

Friday, October 4, 2013

Each
of these activities will be sponsored during
all lunches each day of the week, October 13-17, 2013.

● DAILY

Answer Trivia Questions, win scratch off tickets with hidden prizes.
Students draw a question from a Teen Read Week basket at the circulation desk.
If they can accurately state an answer, they get to select a scratch off
ticket. One question per student per day. We will set a ten-minute timer for
harder questions that may require research. (i.e. Who is responsible for “xyz”
quotation; you have ten minutes to answer.)

Saturday, September 28, 2013

Thursday, September 27, each lunch offered students a chance to BYOB (bring your own book) to our first lunchtime book club. Since Dorman has three lunches, the library staff each took a lunchtime book club down to the food lab to eat a library purchased catered lunch and talk about books! We had a tremendous number for participation, well over 60 participants across three lunches. Mrs. Nelson held the first lunch group, Ms. Hammett held the second lunch group, and Mrs. Dillard held the third lunch group. Our USC-SLIS intern, Mrs. Graham attended all three. I hate I didn't think to snap a few candid photos. Each group will come together again to discuss a book that was given to them November 7, 2013 (when? at lunch of course!) The catering plans for the next lunch meeting is Papa Johns, at least as of the date of this publication. The students from each group will come back together after reading the following to discuss them:

First Meeting, Thursday, September 27
During this past Thursday's lunch meeting, which by the way was the first one, each group watched an interview with the author and a book trailer of the above books while they ate their deli sandwich catered lunch. After eating and watching the videos, students shared the book they brought, since our first group meeting was to talk about a book they wanted to share with the group. Then students were invited to the library to pick up their complimentary copy of the book. We had a huge number during third lunch, so we will be ordering a few extra copies. It's a good problem to have, right?

We are using Remind101
Students have also been invited to follow information and reminders about our lunch book clubs by subscribing to emails or text message reminders from Remind101. It is working well, as just about every student responded to the "Remind101" post/message to come pick up their free book.

Is it too late?
Students, if you are interested in joining us for our next book club, you will have to sign up in the library. Listen to the announcements (or come by and ask for the Remind 101 information to get a virtual "reminder.") Pizza will only be ordered for those who sign up in advance.

Last week we celebrated the freedom to read at Dorman. We had an eye-catching library display that we turned in to a contest. Wednesday we went over to the cafeteria to give students a chance to identify some strategically disguised books in a contest. There were nine books disguised. we had over 110 students and teachers get in on the contest. Congrats to Mrs. P. Neely (Math Department DHS Teacher) and student Breanna Peeso, 10th grader, who had their entries drawn from the correct responses.

Sunday, September 22, 2013

The following contains the links discussed in class Monday, September 24, 2013 with Ms. Compton's class. If you need logins or passwords for any of the resources mentioned, email your librarian, Mrs. Nelson!

If you didn't get your handout with helpful reminders/links from this class, see Mrs. Nelson in the library.

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Seeking the next Hunger Games or Divergent? Check out my Prezi featuring a selection of Dystopian titles. I did a booktalk featuring these titles with Mrs. Mullman's class, but think these could be of interest to anyone interesting in thrilling, futuristic stories. Drop by and let me know what you think!

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

As most of our students know, this year our district went with a BYOD policy. BYOD, in case you're not sure, stands for "bring your own device." In the media center, we are trying to share APPS and websites that help students and teachers integrate more technology into the curriculum despite platform or device. Here is one of our first library displays.

Here are the apps posted on this display:

Kindle Reader

Dropbox

Fandango

Destiny Quest

Evernote

Candy Crush

Facebook

Twitter

EasyBib

I-Nigma

Evernote

Now of course not all of these are "educational." But the response to this is very positive, and we even have students coming forward and suggesting more to add. I made sure I put screenshots of the apps so visitors (students, teachers, parents, etc) could really grasp how the app can enhance a smart device experience. As you can tell from my snapshot today during lunch, students are stopping and taking a look. I've even had a teacher ask me about the EasyBib app after one of her students showed her how it works, scanning a book in the class to get a citation.

We are in the midst of introducing our library to our tenth graders, as this is their first year here. But we may miss a few upperclassmen who are new as well. So here is our slide-set we use in our orientation.

We open daily at 7:30AM. We close Mon-Thur at 4:15PM; we close Friday at dismissal. We are open and available throughout the school day everyday.

We have 24,000+ books in our library. Students can check out up to five books at a time, and they may keep them for three weeks. Students can place holds on books unavailable due to checkout.

We have 24,000+ books in our library. Students can check out up to five books at a time, and they may keep them for three weeks. Students can place holds on books unavailable due to checkout.

You MAY use your electronic device in the library.You MAY NOT take pictures or videos with your device or talk on your phone in the library.Keep in mind: When using ear buds/headphones, YOU should be THE ONLY PERSON who can hear what you are listening to.When charging your device, you may only use the outlets with the “Ok to Charge Here” sign above them. You MAY NOT USE the outlets around the book shelves.**Charge your device at your own risk.**We reserve the right to ask you to unplug your device.

We promote reading through many activities, celebrations, and contests. Often students that have participated are invited to “extras” and get free books (and food too!!) Listen to announcements, read our blog, or pay attention to signs in the library and around our school to get on some of these awesome opportunities.

We sponsor a few different book clubs. One is known sometimes as “Read & Feed” and at other times as “BYOB”, which means “Bring Your Own Book”. These two clubs are just simply book sharing lunches. The library will provide those who sign up a catered lunch. We always meet in the food lab on the B back hall during lunch.

We also sponsor a Virtual Book Club where we videoconference with around six high school groups around a single topic.Tilt is one we did last year. Student in the Video conference choose the titles.

This year we are going to have three book clubs using these titles. All we'll meet at lunch, and again, we’ll provide a catered lunch to those who sign up.

Keep in mind that while there is plenty of exciting things going on in the library, we also want to be sure we still have a quiet environment in our library. Respect that some choose the library to read, study, work in small groups, research, and more, and most of these activities require students to be quiet. Many times there will be two or three classes in the library at the same time, as well as individuals visiting. We can work together so each group and individual has a successful library experience.

Along with the previously mentioned activities, students may choose to read newspapers or magazines, play chess or checkers, or even strike up a game of scrabble. All games are on a table near the circulation desk. Feel free to select a game; please return the game boxed or bagged back to the table upon completion or leaving.

While the library does not require a pass before or after school, students visiting during the school day must present a pass. All students visiting from a classroom must present their pass and sign in. Visitors from lunch just simply place the lunch pass in the basket at the desk.

In an attempt to keep the library environment clean and inviting, we do not allow drinks or food. Students who have these items must store them properly in a bookbag. Items that cannot be stowed properly can be left at the desk for safe keeping.

The library tables are designed to seat four. We respectfully request that students not pull chairs from other tables to accommodate a larger group. Our tables are close enough in proximity to allow students to still have conversations while sitting at nearby tables. Our chairs and loungers are designed for one person. Please refrain from sitting on the arm rests as a way to share these chairs. Again, on person to a seat.

Many students use ear buds to listen to music via a personal device. We kindly ask that music be low enough so as to not disturb or distract while in use.

Destiny Quest will allow students to login and search, reserve, review, or find similar titles on the computer. This is a great program that also allows friends” to share good books!

Destiny Quest is now available as an app on smart devices.

Now access Destiny Quest from a device that fits in your pocket..

Easily search for titles and see a cover. Click on the title to place a hold, review, or recommend.

Enjoy creating lists of books you have read, reviewing titles with stars and/or text, and find titles similar to the ones you are looking at, all from your phone or other device.

Teen Book Finder is another app that can help teens find good books.

Check out the current day’s “Hot Picks” and more.

Search in a variety of ways.

Read about the title recommendations; share this title using social networking tools.

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Remember last spring when we featured the 2013 YALSA Teen Top Ten Nominees with our summer reading kick-off contest? These 28 titles are now being voted upon as YALSA works to whittle the nominees down to the true top ten. Why not get in on the voting? Checkout the titles while you are at it!! See their Tumblr site featuring the titles too. Dorman has many of these titles right here in our library. This is a screen shot of the ballot--visit this link and VOTE!!

Directions from the YALSA site say: Teens' Top Ten is a "teen choice" list, where teens nominate and choose their favorite books of the previous year! Voting will be open from August 15 through Teen Read Week, which is taking place October 13-19 of this year (2013)! The winners will be announced on October 22, 2013, so be sure to check back for the list of winners!

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Dorman's library sponsored a Summer Reading Kick-off Contest during the last two full weeks of May (read the details here.) We have a winner! Tatyanna entered every single day, even the days we were closed for EOC Testing. She made her way in here either second block, mornings before school, and in a few cases after school to submit her vote for the top book--all based on it's cover. The winning Title where students were asked to "judge a book by it's cover" was Killing Me Softly by Sarah Cross, and this IS the book Tatyanna voted for each day! Part of the loot to win in this contest was a $25 gift card for a lunch date AND the library purchased a Summer Required Reading title for Tatyanna. The plan is to read the book and then take a friend to lunch this summer to discuss that book. Tatyanna chose Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 as her summer reading title.

The DHS official Summer Reading Brochure will be available for download in the coming weeks. It has detailed explanations of the activities associated with the reading requirements.

English 10 College Prep & English 10

Summer Reading is a required assignment in English 10 College Prep and is an extra credit assignment in English 10. Students in English 10 College Prep are required to read the selected text and should be prepared on the first day of class, whether first or second semester, to discuss the text and write critically about it.

Between Shades of Gray, Ruta Sepetys

English 11 College Prep & English 11

Summer Reading is a required assignment in English 11 College Prep and is an extra credit assignment in English 11. Students in English 11 College Prep are required to read one of the selected text and should be prepared on the first day of class, whether first or second semester, to discuss the text and write critically about it.

The Bean Trees, Barbara Kingsolver

Between Shades of Gray, Ruta Sepetys

Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux, Joh G. Neihardt

Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury

Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer

The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan

Saints at the River, Ron Rash

English 12 College Prep & English 12

Summer Reading is a required assignment in English 12 College Prep and is an extra credit assignment in English 12. Students in English 12 College Prep are required to read one of the selected text and should be prepared on the first day of class, whether first or second semester, to discuss the text and write critically about it.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis

V for Vendetta (graphic novel), Alan Moore and David Lloyd

World Literature

Summer reading is a required assignment. Students should choose one of the texts listed below and be prepared on the first day of class, whether first or second semester, to discuss the text and write critically about it.

Between Shades of Gray, Ruta Sepetys

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, Ishmael Beah

An Ordinary Man: An Autobiography, Paul Rusesabagina and Tom Zoellner

Grade 10 STEM

Before the first day of class, students need to have thoughtfully read the following books:

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Sklott

The Time Machine, H.G. Wells

English 10 Honors/Pre-AP

The required works for English 10 Honors are listed below. The texts should be purchased so that you may annotate them. Students in English 10 Honors should read Fahrenheit 451 and Unbroken over the summer and be ready to discuss and write about these two novels the first week of class. Students should purchase Between Shades of Gray. All English 10 Honors/Pre-AP classes will start the reading of Between Shades of Gray during the first week of the class.

Between Shades of Gray, Ruta Sepetys

Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury

Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand

English 11 Honors

Students in English 11 Honors are required to read the texts below. Be prepared on the first day of class, whether first or second semester, to discuss the texts analytically and write critically about them during class.

Brave New World, Aldous Huxley

Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte

AP Language and Composition

Students in Advanced Placement English Language and Composition should read one book from LIST A and one book from LIST B. Students should be prepared the first day of class, whether it be first or second semester, to discuss the texts analytically and write critically about them in class.

List A:

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, Ishmael Beah

The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother, James McBride

The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot

Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer

List B:

Freakonomics, Steven Levitt

Nickel and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich

Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell

Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology, Neil Postman

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a DIfference, Malcolm Gladwell

AP Literature and Composition

Students in Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition must complete all three reading requirements below. The texts should be purchased so that you may annotate them. You may order the texts online, or you may purchase them at a local bookstore. Call the store to be sure the texts are available. Students should be prepared the first day of class, whether it be first or second semester, to take a comprehension test, to discuss the works analytically, and write critically about the works during class.